Practical applications of a mentalising approach with children and young people
Develop an understanding of what mentalising is, and how to use a mentalising approach with children and young people.
Mentalising is the capacity to understand our own reactions and those of others as motivated by inner mental states, such as feelings and intentions.
This workshop will support participants to develop an understanding of what mentalising is, and how to use this approach with children and young people.
Participants will understand how mentalising develops and the challenges to mentalising. The workshop will explore mental wellbeing in children and young people, considering how mentalising can support work with those experiencing mental health difficulties.
Designed for
Family help and social care practitioners working directly with children and families.
Learning outcomes
As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Explain what mentalising is and why it is important.
- Describe how mentalising develops and the factors that impact on mentalising.
- Recognise how stress can impact on mentalising capacity.
- Apply a mentalising approach when working with children and young people experiencing mental health difficulties.
- Select reflective questions and tools to support parents’ mentalising capacity.
- Apply a mentalising stance with children and young people who have experienced trauma.
Booking information
This is a full day interactive session delivered via Microsoft Teams and you are encouraged to contribute with the aid of break-out rooms, the chat function and large group discussions. Participants will benefit from having a quiet space to work without interruption. Slides will be sent out after the session.
Research in Practice members can use their membership allocation to book this workshop. Link Officers can use the booking request form to book this workshop. Please only use this form if you are authorised to choose your organisation's membership allocation.
Once your booking is received, our learning team will work with you to confirm a delivery date and provide relevant information.
The deadline for booking this year’s online workshops is 17 October 2025.
Organisations that are not Research in Practice Partners can commission this workshop individually by contacting our learning team.
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